The richest treasure in disposable containers

O Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth will declare your praise. Psalm 51:15

 

Read 2 Corinthians 4:7—12

I have been entrusted with a treasure. A rich, stupendous treasure, too expensive for me to buy, but it has been given to me freely and lavishly. It is worth everything I have.[1] It is entrusted to me in my own body, the frail life I have been given to live each day, a very common container, in fact a disposable one, a clay jar. I can be tempted to hold onto this container, this clay jar, when I feel in the dumps. But these verses were written by a practising missionary who reflected rather more on the richness of the treasure and less on the disposable container. That’s how he learned what he did about himself. The life of Jesus in him was so precious that it could not be contained by him. It had to be shared, no matter the cost, even if it broke him.[2] It was that disposability that gave his life its true point and glory. I would say it is what gave him his permanence. If I have not lived this truth today, let me pray for the grace to live it tomorrow.

 

Often enough, dear Father, I have been crushed by affliction, desperate in perplexity, forsaken or persecuted, destroyed when struck down. Often enough I have succumbed to these things. I have put my attention on myself. I have pitied myself. I have neglected the dynamic of the Good News, the rich treasure. I think now upon the sweetness and the goodness of the news of Jesus, on all that you have given me in him, all that I have because you have me. My life has been hidden in Christ, even though it broke him. I pray that I may treasure nothing so much as the privilege of sharing this testimony with even one other person.

 

 

[1]Matthew 13:44—46

[2]2 Corinthians 12:23—30